[ These lists are, without question, deeply unstable; Subject to change with one listen or repeat, marathon listens, you'll find as many worn copies as barely digested ones. Those in red represent recent additions which, as ever, can represent either something I've just recently heard or something I've just recently remembered having heard. Comments random and uncharacteristic. It would likely be idiotic not to repeatedly thank this guy, (or to not plug his website.) Have a nice day. ]

1964

01. The Kinks (The Kinks)
02. A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles)
03. Beatles for Sale (The Beatles)
04. 12 x 5 (The Rolling Stones)

1965

01. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan)
02. Rubber Soul (The Beatles)
03. Help! (The Beatles)
04. What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid (Donovan)
05. The Kink Controversy (The Kinks)
06. Today! (The Beach Boys)
07. Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) (The Beach Boys)
08. The Rolling Stones Now! (The Rolling Stones)

1966

01. Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys)
02. Blonde on Blonde (Bob Dylan)
03. Revolver (The Beatles)
04. Miles Smiles (Miles Davis)
05. Sunshine Superman (Donovan)
06. The High Priestess of Soul (Nina Simone)
07. Wild is the Wind (Nina Simone)
08. The Psychadelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (13th Floor Elevators)
09. Aftermath (The Rollings Stones)
10. Face to Face (The Kinks)

Conspicuously Absent: Freak Out! (Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention), Afro Latin Soul (Mulatu Astatke)
 

1967

01. Velvet Underground & Nico (The Velvet Underground)
02. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles)
03. Are You Experienced? (Jimi Hendrix)
04. Something Else by the Kinks (The Kinks)
05. The Doors (The Doors)
06. White Light/White Heat (Velvet Underground)
07. Scott 1 (Scott Walker)
08. John Wesley Harding (Bob Dylan)
09. Magical Mystery Tour (The Beatles)
10. Smiley Smile (The Beach Boys)

Conspicuously Absent: Axis: Bold As Love (Jimi Hendrix), The Grateful Dead (Grateful Dead), , Strange Days (The Doors), Piper at the Gates of Dawn (Pink Floyd), Mello Yellow (Donovan), Blowin' Your Mind (Van Morrison), Their Satanic Majesties Request (The Rolling Stones), The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion (The Incredible String Band), Between the Buttons (The Rolling Stones), My People Were Fair and Had Sky in their Hair...But Now They're Content to Wear Stars on their Brows (Tyrannosaurus Rex), Safe as Milk (Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band)

Notable Compilations: Flowers (The Rolling Stones)

1968

01. The White Album (The Beatles)
02. Electric Ladyland (Jimi Hendrix)
03. The Village Green Preservation Society (The Kinks)
04. Astral Weeks (Van Morrison)
05. Saucerful of Secrets (Pink Floyd)
06. Waiting for the Sun (The Doors)
07. Beggars Banquet (Rolling Stones)
08. Friends (The Beach Boys)
09. Wild Honey (The Beach Boys)
10. Odyssey & Oracle (The Zombies)

bumped - Anthem of the Sun (Grateful Dead), Scott 2 (Scott Walker), Happy Sad (Tim Buckley), The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter (The Incredible String Band), S.F. Sorrow (Pretty Things), Strictly Personal (Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band), The Hurdy Gurdy Man (Donovan)

1969

01. Just Another Diamond Day (Vashti Bunyan)
02. Bitches' Brew (Miles Davis)
03. Five Leaves Left (Nick Drake)
04. The Velvet Underground (The Velvet Underground)
05. Aoxomoxoa (Grateful Dead)
06. Barabajagel (Donovan)
07. Abbey Road (The Beatles)
08. Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (The Kinks)
09. 2 (Led Zeppelin)
10. The Stooges (The Stooges)

Conspicuously Absent: Space Oddity (David Bowie), In The Court of the Crimson King (King Crimson), Everyone Knows This is Nowhere (Neil Young), 20/20 (The Beach Boys), Scott 3 (Scott Walker), Tommy (The Who), More (Pink Floyd), Yellow Submarine (The Beatles), Moondance (Van Morrison), Neil Young (Neil Young), Scott 4 (Scott Walker), The Marble Index (Nico), Trout Mask Replica (Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band), Hot Rats (Frank Zappa), Let it Bleed (The Rolling Stones), 1 (Led Zeppelin), The Soft Parade (The Doors)

Notable Compilations: Umaguma (Live) (Pink Floyd), Live/Dead (Grateful Dead), Live at San Quentin (Johnny Cash)

1970

01. Workingman's Dead (Grateful Dead)
02. Bryter Layter (Nick Drake)
03. All Things Must Pass (George Harrison)
04. Plastic Ono Band (John Lennon)
05. American Beauty (Grateful Dead)
06. Loaded (The Velvet Underground)
07. After the Gold Rush (Neil Young)
08. Fun House (The Stooges)
09. Let it Be (The Beatles)
10. New Morning (Bob Dylan)

Conspicuously Absent: Morrison Hotel (The Doors), Lola vs. Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Part 1 (The Kinks), Atom Heart Mother (Pink Floyd),
3 (Led Zeppelin), Black Sabbath (Black Sabbath), Young Americans (David Bowie), Vintage Violence (John Cale), Weasels Ripped My Flesh (Frank Zappa).
Notable Compilations: Absolutely Live (The Doors), Mirror Man (Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band), T. Rex (T. Rex), Sunflower (The Beach Boys), Open Road (Donovan), Barrett (Syd Barrett), The Madcap Laughs (Syd Barrett), McCartney (Paul McCartney)

1971

01. Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones)
02. Who's Next (The Who)
03. Grateful Dead (Grateful Dead)
04. Muswell Hillbillies (The Kinks)
05. L.A. Woman (The Doors)
06. Madman Across the Water (Elton John)
07. 4 (Led Zeppelin)
08. Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
09. Surf's Up (The Beach Boys)
10. Ram (Paul McCartney)

Conspicuously Absent: Hunky Dory (David Bowie), Master of Reality (Black Sabbath), Meddle (Pink Floyd), Electric Warrior (T. Rex), HMS Donovan (Donovan), Hatched (Fresh Maggots), The Tumbleweed Connection (Elton John), Tago Mago (Can), Tupelo Honey (Van Morrison)

1972

01. Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (David Bowie)
02. Pink Moon (Nick Drake)
03. Harvest (Neil Young)
04. Transformer (Lou Reed)
05. The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie)
06. Obscured by Clouds (Pink Floyd)
07. Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones)
08. The Slider (T.Rex)
09. Roxy Music (Roxy Music)
10. Volume 4 (Black Sabbath)

Notable Compilations: Europe '72 (Grateful Dead), Everybody's in Showbiz (The Kinks), The Spotlight Kid (Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band), Clear Spot (Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band), Waka Jawaka (Frank Zappa).

1973

01. Dark Side of the Moon (Pink Floyd)
02. Here Come the Warm Jets (Brian Eno)
03. Burnin' (Bob Marley)
04. Band on the Run (Paul McCartney & Wings)
05. Essense to Essence (Donovan)
06. Tanx (T. Rex)
07. Closing Time (Tom Waits)
08. For Your Pleasure (Roxy Music)
09. Raw Power (The Stooges)
10. Houses of the Holy (Led Zeppelin)

Conspicuously Absent: Berlin (Lou Reed), Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John), Pin Ups (David Bowie), Preservation: Act 1 (The Kinks), Cosmic Wheels (Donovan), Goat's Head Soup (Rolling Stones), , Aladdin Sane (David Bowie), Red Hash (Gary Higgins), Time Fades Away (Neil Young), Ringo (Ringo Starr), Mind Games (John Lennon)

Notable Compilations: History of the Grateful Dead, Vol 1 (Bear's Choice) (Grateful Dead)

1974

01. Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy) (Brian Eno)
02. On the Beach (Neil Young)
03. Diamond Dogs (David Bowie)
04. Eldorado (Electric Light Orchestra)
05. Zinc Alloy and the Hidden Riders of Tomorrow (T. Rex)
06. Einsjäger & Seibenjäger (Popol Vuh)
07. Mirage (Camel)
08. Fear (John Cale)
09. Autobahn (Kraftwerk)
10. The Heart of Saturday Night (Tom Waits)

Conspicuously Absent: 7-Tease (Donovan), It's Only Rock 'N Roll (The Rolling Stones)

1975

01. Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd)
02. Another Green World (Brian Eno)
03. Blood on the Tracks (Bob Dylan)
04. Tonight's the Night (Neil Young)
05. Physical Graffiti (Led Zeppelin)
06. Zuma (Neil Young)
07. Discreet Music (Brian Eno)
08. Siren (Roxy Music)
09.The Kinks Present Schoolboys in Disguise (The Kinks)
10. Neu 75 (Neu!)

Conspicuously Absent:  Soap Opera (The Kinks), Bolan's Zip Gun (T. Rex), Nadir's Big Chance (Peter Hammill)
Notable Compilations - Metamorphosis (The Rolling Stones)

1976

01. Desire (Bob Dylan)
02. Station to Station (David Bowie)
03. Rastaman Vibration (Bob Marley)
04. Coney Island Baby (Lou Reed)
05. Legalize It (Peter Tosh)
06. Futuristic Dragon (T. Rex)
07. Black Market (Weather Report)
08. Sad Wings of Destiny (Judas Priest)
09. Slow Down World (Donovan)

Notable Compilations: We Sold Our Soul for Rock n' Roll (Black Sabbath)

1977

01. Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols (Sex Pistols)
02. The Clash (The Clash)
03. My Aim is True (Elvis Costello)
04. Before and After Science (Brian Eno)
05. Animals (Pink Floyd)
06. Exodus (Bob Marley)
07. Damned Damned Damned (The Damned)
08. Lust for Life (Iggy Pop)
09. Pink Flag (Wire)
10. Low (David Bowie)

Conspicuously Absent: Sleepwalker (The Kinks), The Idiot (Iggy Pop), Foreign Affairs (Tom Waits), Rocket to Russia (The Ramones), American Stars n' Bars (Neil Young), Dandy in the Underworld (T. Rex), Pacific Ocean Blue (Dennis Wilson) (Hard year for this to be released, but I do highly recommend it just the same), Marquee Moon (Television), Suicide (Suicide)

1978

01. This Year's Model (Elvis Costello)
02. More Songs About Buildings and Food (Talking Heads)
03. Give 'Em Enough Rope (The Clash)
04. Survival (Bob Marley)
05. Street-Legal (Bob Dylan)
06. Three Imaginary Boys (The Cure)
07. Ambient 1: Music for Airports (Brian Eno)
08. Music for Films (Brian Eno)
00. Some Girls (The Rolling Stones)
10. Jesus of Cool (Nick Lowe)

Conspicuously Absent: Comes a Time (Neil Young), Misfits (The Kinks), Go 2 (XTC), Here, My Dear (Marvin Gaye), Darkness on the Edge of Town (Bruce Springsteen), Shiny Beast(Bat Chain Puller) (Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band)
Notable Albums that weren't actually albums, released or completed: Bamboo (Dennis Wilson)
Notable Compilations: The Last Waltz (The Band), Cannibalism (Can)
Notable EP's: Nervous Breakdown (Black Flag)

1979

01. London Calling (The Clash)
02. The Wall (Pink Floyd)
03. Armed Forces (Elvis Costello)
04. Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division)
05. Catch a Fire (Bob Marley)
06. Rust Never Sleeps (Neil Young)
07. Boys Don't Cry (The Cure)
08. Quadrophenia (The Who)
09. Fear of Music (Talking Heads)
10. Lodger (David Bowie)

Conspicuously Absent: In Through The Out Door (Led Zeppelin), The Specials (The Specials), Entertainment! (Gang of Four), 154 (Wire), A Trip to Marineville (Swell Maps)
Notable Compilations: Door, Door (Boys Next Door)

1980

01. Closer (Joy Division)
02. Uprising (Bob Marley)
03. Black Market Clash (The Clash)
04. Get Happy!! (Elvis Costello)
05. Boy (U2)
06. Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (Dead Kennedys)
07. Remain in Light (Talking Heads)
08. Seventeen Seconds (The Cure)
09. In a Flat Field (Bauhaus)
10. Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (Harold Budd and Brian Eno)

Conspicuously Absent: Sandanista! (The Clash), Scary Monsters (David Bowie), Crocodiles (Echo & The Bunnymen), The Affectionate Punch (The Associates), British Steel (Judas Priest)

1981

01. October (U2)
02. Faith (The Cure)
03. Trust (Elvis Costello)
04. Plastic Surgery Disasters (Dead Kennedys)
05. Movement (New Order)
06. Mask (Bauhaus)
07. Damaged (Black Flag)
08. Solid Gold (Gang of Four)
09. Tin Drum (Japan)

Notable Compilations: Reckoning (Grateful Dead)

1982

01. Combat Rock (The Clash)
02. Imperial Bedroom (Elvis Costello)
03. The Sky's Gone Out (Bauhaus)
04. Pornography (The Cure)
05. The Days of Wine and Roses (The Dream Syndicate)
06. Nebraska (Bruce Springsteen)
07. Under the Big Black Sun (X)
08. Separations (Pulp)
09. Ambient 4: On Land (Brian Eno)

Notable EP's: In God We Trust, Inc. (Dead Kennedys), Chronic Town (R.E.M.), Stink (The Replacements)

1983

01.  Murmur (R.E.M.)
02.  War (U2)
03.  Séance (The Church)
04.  The Final Cut (Pink Floyd)
05.  Swordfishtrombones (Tom Waits)
06.  Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks (Brian Eno)
07.  Speaking in Tongues (Talking Heads)
08.  Burning From the Inside (Bauhaus)
09.  Confrontation (Bob Marley & The Wailers)
10.  It (Pulp)

Conspicuously Absent: Let's Dance (David Bowie), Punch the Clock (Elvis Costello), Hootenany (The Replacements), My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (Brian Eno/David Byrne), Power, Corruption & Lies (New Order)
Notable Compilations: Everything Went Black (Black Flag)

1984

01. The Smiths (The Smiths)
02. Reckoning (R.E.M.)
03. Red Roses for Me (The Pogues)
04. The Unforgettable Fire (U2)
05. Meat Puppets II (Meat Puppets)
06. The Big Express (XTC)
07. From Her to Eternity (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
08. The Pearl (Harold Budd/Brian Eno)
09. The Top (The Cure)

Notable Compilations: Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads)

1985

01. Rum Sodomy & The Lash (The Pogues)
02. Meat is Murder (The Smiths)
03. Rain Dogs (Tom Waits)
04. Reconstruction of the Fables (R.E.M.)
05. Tim (The Replacements)
06. Cut the Crap (The Clash)
07. Frankenchrist (Dead Kennedys)
08. First and Last and Always (The Sisters of Mercy)
09. Psychocandy (The Jesus and Mary Chain)
10. Nervous Night (The Hooters)

Conspicuously Absent: Thursday Afternoon (Brian Eno), New Day Rising (Husker Du), This Nation's Saving Grace (The Fall), Little Creatures (Talking Heads), Boys and Girls (Brian Ferry), The Head on the Door (The Cure), Low-Life (New Order)
Notable Compilations: Still (Joy Division), Biograph (Bob Dylan),

1986

01. Skylarking (XTC)
02. The Queen is Dead (The Smiths)
03. Life's Rich Pageant (R.E.M.)
04. Licensed to Ill (The Beastie Boys)
05. Blood & Chocolate (Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
06. Evol (Sonic Youth)
07. Freaks (Pulp)
08. Brotherhood (New Order)
09. King of America (Elvis Costello & The Attractions)
10. Should the World Fail to Fall Apart (Peter Murphy)

Conspicuously Absent: Candy Apple Grey (Husker Du), True Stories (Talking Heads), Bedtime for Democracy (Dead Kennedys), Kicking Against the Pricks (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)

Notable Compilations: 1979-1983: Volume One (Bauhaus), Staring at the Sea (The Cure), Time of No Reply (Nick Drake)

1987

01. Frank's Wild Years (Tom Waits)
02. Strangeways, Here We Come (The Smiths)
03. The Joshua Tree (U2)
04. Pleased To Meet Me (The Replacements)
05. Document (R.E.M.)
06. Appetite For Destruction (Guns n' Roses)
07. Jane's Addiction (Jane's Addiction)
08. Floodland (The Sisters of Mercy)
09. Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death (Dead Kennedys)
10. Sister (Sonic Youth)

Conspicuously Absent: Dancepieces (Philip Glass), In the Dark (Grateful Dead), One Way Home (The Hooters), Darklands (The Jesus and Mary Chain), Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (The Cure), Radio KAOS (Roger Waters), Devil Between My Toes (Guided by Voices), Sandbox (Guided by Voices)

Notable Compilations: Louder Than Bombs (The Smiths), Dead Letter Office (R.E.M.), Wasted...Again (Black Flag)

1988

01. If I Should Fall from Grace With God (The Pogues)
02. Starfish (The Church)
03. Love Hysteria (Peter Murphy)
04. Daydream Nation (Sonic Youth)
05. Nothing's Shocking (Jane's Addiction)
06. Surfer Rosa (The Pixies)
07. Danzig (Danzig)
08. ...And Justice For All (Metallica)
09. Pretty Hate Machine (Nine Inch Nails)
10. Isn't Anything - (My Bloody Valentine)

Conspicuously Absent: L7 (L7), Green (R.E.M.), Naked (Talking Heads), Tender Prey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)

1989

01.  Deep (Peter Murphy)
02.  Solo Piano (Philip Glass)
03.  Bleach (Nirvana)
04.  Passion (Peter Gabriel)
05.  Don't Tell a Soul (The Replacements)
06.  Oranges & Lemons (XTC)
07.  Spike (Elvis Costello)
08.  A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste (Ministry)
09.  Peace and Love (The Pogues)
10. Paul's Boutique (The Beastie Boys)

Conspicuously Absent: Blind Man's Zoo (10,000 Maniacs), The Real Thing (Faith No More), G'N'R Lies (Guns n' Roses), Love & Rockets (Love & Rockets), Earthquake Weather (Joe Strummer), Freedom (Neil Young), New York (Lou Reed), Oh Mercy (Bob Dylan), Automatic (The Jesus and Mary Chain), Ecstacy & Wine (My Bloody Valentine), Doolittle (The Pixies), Disintegration (The Cure), Self Inflicted Aerial Nostalgia (Guided by Voices)

1990

01. Ritual de lo Habitual (Jane's Addiction)
02. Vision Thing (The Sisters of Mercy)
03. The Good Son (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
04. Goo (Sonic Youth)
05. Facelift (Alice in Chains)
06. Hell's Ditch (The Pogues)
07. Ragged Glory (Neil Young)
08. Fear of a Black Planet (Public Enemy)
09. In a Priest Driven Ambulance (The Flaming Lips)
10. A Catholic Education (Teenage Fanclub)

Conspicuously Absent: She Hangs Brightly (Mazzy Star), Back to the Coast (Nikki Sudden), All Shook Down (The Replacements), Louder than Love (Soundgarden), Flat Duo Jets (Flat Duo Jets), Chill Out (The KLF)

Notable Compilations: In Case You Didn't Feel Like Showing Up (Live) (Ministry), Rag & Bone Buffet (XTC)
Notable EP's: The Weeping Song (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) (contains my favorite Nick Cave song, "Train Song")

1991

01. Nevermind (Nirvana)
02. Loveless (My Bloody Valentine)
03. Ten (Pearl Jam)
04. Bandwagonesque (Teenage Fanclub)
05. Little Earthquakes (Tori Amos)
06. Blood Sugar Sex Magik (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
07. Trompe Le Monde (The Pixies)
08. Pretty on the Inside (Hole)
09. Green Mind (Dinosaur Jr.)
10. Gish (Smashing Pumpkins)

Conspicuously Absent: Mighty Like a Rose (Elvis Costello), Electronic (Electronic), Steady Diet of Nothing (Fugazi), Use Your Illusion 1 (Guns n' Roses), Use Your Illusion 2 (Guns n' Roses), Out of Time (R.E.M.), Badmotorfinger (Soundgarden), The Supersonic Storybook (Urge Overkill), Achtung Baby (U2), Bad Moon Rising (Sonic Youth), The Pod (Ween), Cypress Hill (Cypress Hill)

Notable EP's: Whatever's Cool With Me (Dinosaur Jr.), Lull (Smashing Pumpkins)

1992

01. Henry's Dream (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
02. It's a Shame About Ray (Lemonheads)
03. Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the Machine)
04. Bone Machine (Tom Waits)
05. Incesticide (Nirvana)
06. Check Your Head (The Beastie Boys)
07. Automatic For the People (R.E.M.)
08. Slanted and Enchanted (Pavement)
09. Dirt (Alice in Chains)
10. The Shutov Assembly (Brian Eno)

Conspicuously Absent: Our Time in Eden (10,000 Maniacs), Congregation (The Afghan Whigs), Palomine (Bettie Serveert), Eleventeen (Daisy Chainsaw), Doo-Bop (Miles Davis), The Chronic (Dr. Dre), Angel Dust (Faith No More), Psalm 69: The Way to Succeed and the Way to Suck Eggs (Ministry), Spooky (Lush), Piece of Cake (Mudhoney), Holy Smoke (Peter Murphy), Dirty (Sonic Youth), Diva (My Sister's Machine), Core (Stone Temple Pilots), Nonsuch (XTC), Harvest Moon (Neil Young), Dirty (Sonic Youth), Meantime (Helmet), Hit to Death in the Future Head (The Flaming Lips), Honey's Dead (The Jesus and Mary Chain), Bricks are Heavy (L7), Propeller (Guided by Voices).

Notable Compilations: Some Girls Wander By Mistake (The Sisters of Mercy), Mother Love Bone (Mother Love Bone), Front By Front (Front 242), The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History (The Vaselines)
Notable EP's: Sap (Alice in Chains), Broken (Nine Inch Nails), Lithium (Nirvana) (Okay, this is a CD single, but I remember the innovative sales pitch: Contains
    complete lyrics to all songs on Nevermind; also, a great song called "Curmudgeon").

1993

01.   Whatever (Aimee Mann)
02.   In Utero (Nirvana)
03.   The Black Rider (Tom Waits)
04.   New Wave (The Auteurs)
05.   Siamese Dream (Smashing Pumpkins)
06.   Undertow (Tool)
07.   Gentlemen (The Afghan Whigs)
08.   Saturation (Urge Overkill)
09.   Vampire on Titus (Guided by Voices)
10.   Tindersticks (1993) (Tindersticks)

Conspicuously Absent: Liberation (The Divine Comedy), Debut (Bjork), Cuckoo (Curve), In on the Kill Taker (Fugazi), Glassworks (Philip Glass), Become What You Are (The Juliana Hatfield Three), Ambient (Moby), Vs. (Pearl Jam) (after this, I kinda lost track/interest in them, you know?), Rid of Me (PJ Harvey), Porno For Pyros (Porno for Pyros), Slip (Quicksand), Pablo Honey (Radiohead), Circa: Now (Rocket From the Crypt), Suede (Suede), Thirteen (Teenage Fanclub), Zooropa (U2), Neroli (Brian Eno), Transmissions from a Satellite Heart (The Flaming Lips), Where You Been (Dinosaur Jr.), The Normal Years (Built to Spill), So Tonight That I Might See (Mazzy Star), Fumbling Towards Ecstacy (Sarah McLachlan), World Gone Wrong (Bob Dylan), There is No One What Will Take Care of You (Palace Brothers)

Notable EP's: Kisser (Chug)
Notable Compilations: Live Seeds (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), Live at the El Mocambo (1978) - (Elvis Costello & The Attractions), The Normal Years (Built to Spill), Selected Ambient Works 85-92 (Aphex Twin)

1994

01.   Brutal Youth (Elvis Costello)
02.   His n' Hers (Pulp)
03.   Selected Ambient Works: Volume II (Aphex Twin)
04.   Roman Candle (Elliott Smith)
05.   Bewitched (Luna)
06.   Now I'm a Cowboy (The Auteurs)
07.   Bee Thousand (Guided By Voices)
08.   Live Through This (Hole)
09.   Split (Lush)
10.   Let Love In (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)

Conspicuously Absent: Ill Communication (The Beastie Boys), Promenade (The Divine Comedy), , Dummy (Portishead), Mellow Gold (Beck), Park Life (Blur), Sometime Anywhere (The Church), Bad Vibes (Lloyd Cole), Harbinger (Paula Cole), Mary Queen of Scots (Eugenius), Hungry for Stink (L7), Panic On (Madder Rose), Too High To Die (Meat Puppets), Sleeps With Angels (Neil Young & Crazy Horse), The Downward Spiral (Nine Inch Nails), Masters of the Universe (Pulp), Monster (R.E.M.), Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star (Sonic Youth), Superunknown (Soundgarden), Purple (Stone Temple Pilots), Rubberneck (Toadies), G. Love & Special Sauce (G. Love & Special Sauce), Stoned and Dethroned (The Jesus and Mary Chain), Dog Man Star (Suede), There's Nothing Wrong With Love (Built to Spill), Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain (Pavement), Cop and Speeder (Heatmiser), Under the Pink (Tori Amos), Chocolate and Cheese (Ween).

Notable EP's: Analogue Bubblebath (Aphex Twin), What Jail is Like EP (The Afghan Whigs), Let's Stay Together (Suede), Providing Needles for Your Balloons (The Flaming Lips)
Notable Compilations: Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake (Nick Drake)

1995

01.  To Bring You My Love (PJ Harvey)
02.  Different Class (Pulp)
03.  Elliott Smith (Elliott Smith)
04.  Alien Lanes (Guided By Voices)
05.  Exit Planet Dust (The Chemical Bros.)
06.  Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness (Smashing Pumpkins)
07.  Mirror Ball (Neil Young)
08.  The Bends (Radiohead)
09.  Clouds Taste Metallic (The Flaming Lips)
10.  Washing Machine (Sonic Youth)

Conspicuously Absent: Alice in Chains (Alice in Chains), Exit the Dragon (Urge Overkill), Smart (Sleeper), Nuisance (Menswear), Cascade (Peter Murphy), The Juliet Letters (Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet), Red Medicine (Fugazi), Coast to Coast Motel (G Love & Special Sauce), You'd Prefer an Astronaut (Hum), Lamprey (Bettie Serveert), Post , Resident Alien (Spacehog), , , Methodrone (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), ...I Care Because You Do (Aphex Twin), A.M. (Wilco), I'm With Stupid (Aimee Mann),  Post(Bjork), Penthouse (Luna), Tilt (Scott Walker), Wowee Zowee (Pavement), The Snake (Shane MacGowan & The Popes)

Notable Compilations: 1963 In Japan (Thelonius Monk), Unplugged (Bob Dylan)

1996

01.  Entroducing (DJ Shadow)
02.  Tigermilk (Belle & Sebastian)
03.  After Murder Park (The Auteurs)
04.  Their Satanic Majesties Second Request (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)
05.  Boys for Pele (Tori Amos)
06.  New Adventures in Hi-Fi (R.E.M.)
07.  On Avery Island (Neutral Milk Hotel)
08.  All This Useless Beauty (Elvis Costello)
09.  Being There (Wilco)
10.  Thank God for Mental Illness (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)
 

Conspicuously Absent: Second Toughest in the Infants (Underworld), ima (BT), Sassafras (Chug), Aenima (Tool), Nanette et Boni (Tindersticks), , Tiny Music from the Vatican Gift Shop (Stone Temple Pilots), The It Girl (Sleeper), Evil Empire (Rage Against the Machine), Placebo (Placebo), Filth Pig (Ministry), Lovelife (Lush), Better Living Through Chemistry (Fatboy Slim), Broken Arrow (Neil Young),  Take it from the Man! (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), Odelay (Beck), Richard D. James Album (Aphex Twin), Murder Ballads (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), Spacegirl and Other Favorites (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), Under the Bushes, Under the Stars (Guided by Voices), Black Love (The Afghan Whigs)

Notable EP's: Bonnie & Clyde (The Afghan Whigs) (more of a maxi-single, really, but I want to highlight their version of "Creep" so badly), Sunfish Holy Breakfast (Guided by Voices)
Noteable Compilations: Dick's Picks, Volume 6 (Grateful Dead), Hooterization: A Retrospective (The Hooters), From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah (Nirvana)

1997

01.  If you're Feeling Sinister (Belle & Sebastian)
02.  Baader Meinhoff (Baader Meinhoff)
03.  Zaireeka (The Flaming Lips)
04.  The Boatman's Call (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
05.  OK Computer (Radiohead)
06.  Either/Or (Elliott Smith)
07.  Casanova (The Divine Comedy)
08.  Time out of Mind (Bob Dylan)
09.  Portishead (Portishead)
10.  Give it Back (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)

Conspicuously Absent: Dust Bunnies (Bettie Serveert), Book of Secrets (Loreena McKennitt), Blur (Blur), Dig Your Own Hole (The Chemical Bros.), Vegas (The Crystal Method), Come Clean (Curve), Dead Elvis (Death in Vegas), Love Songs for Underdogs (Tanya Donnelly), Yeah, It's That Easy (G. Love & Special Sauce), Copenhagen (Galaxie 500), The Magic City (Helium), The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum (L7), Pup Tent (Luna), The Fat of the Land (Prodigy), The Crock of Gold (Shane MacGowan & The Popes), Retreat from the Sun (That Dog), Curtains (Tindersticks), Pop (U2), Guitar Noir (Aqua Velvets), The Strange Underworld of the Tall Poppies (The Pearlfishers), SYR 2 (Sonic Youth), Coming Up (The London Suede) ("Picnic on the Motorway", however, might be up there with my favorite Britpop of all time), Von (Sigur Rós), Brighten the Corners (Pavement), The Mollusk (Ween) (title track is addictive bordering on criminal), Joya (Will Oldham), Homework (Daft Punk).

Notable EP's: Analogue Bubblebath #3 (Aphex Twin), 3...6...9...Seconds of Light (Belle & Sebastian), Dog on Wheels (Belle & Sebastian), Lazy Line Painter Jane (Belle & Sebastian), This is Just a Modern Rock Song (Belle & Sebastian)

1998

01.  In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (Neutral Milk Hotel)
02.  The Boy with the Arab Strap (Belle & Sebastian)
03.  Moon Safari (Air)
04.  x/o (Elliott Smith)
05.  This is Hardcore (Pulp)
06.  Up (R.E.M.)
07.  1965 (The Afghan Whigs)
08.  Celebrity Skin (Hole)
09.  Is This Desire? (PJ Harvey)
10. You've Come a Long Way, Baby (Fatboy Slim)

Conspicuously Absent: Hello Nasty (The Beastie Boys), Mutations (Beck), England Made Me (Black Box Recorder), Fin de Siecle (The Divine Comedy), On the Floor at the Boutique (Fatboy Slim), Saturnzrevenge (Goldie), And the Ass Saw the Angel (Nick Cave with Mick Harvey and Ed Clayton-Jones), Adore (Smashing Pumpkins), The Chinese Album (Spacehog), Beaucoup Fish (Underworld), Hellbilly Deluxe (Rob Zombie), A Thousand Leaves (Sonic Youth), Strung Out in Heaven (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), From the Choirgirl Hotel (Tori Amos), Show You What a Baby Won't (The Starlite Desperation).

Notable B-side: Holland, 1945 ("Engine" recorded live in the London Underground) (Neutral Milk Hotel)

1999

01.  Mule Variations (Tom Waits)
02.  Simple Pleasures (Tindersticks)
03.  How I Learned to Love the Bootboys (The Auteurs)
04.  Elephant Shoe (Arab Strap)
05. The Tennessee Fire (My Morning Jacket)
06.  The Soft Bulletin (The Flaming Lips)
07.  Summerteeth (Wilco)
08.  The Green Fields of Foreverland (The Gentle Waves)
09.  Bachelor No. 2 (Aimee Mann)
10.  I See a Darkness (Bonnie "Prince" Billy)

Conspicuously Absent: Headmusic (Suede), 69 Love Songs (The Magnetic Fields), The Fragile (Nine Inch Nails), The Battle of Los Angeles (Rage Against the Machine), To Venus and Back (Tori Amos), Midnight Vultures (Beck), Thirteen (Blur), Surrender (The Chemical Bros.), The Contino Sessions (Death in Vegas), Up a Tree (Looper), Whatcha Doin' (The Go), Apple Venus, Volume 1 (XTC), Do the Collapse (Guided by Voices), The Days of our Nights (Luna)

Notable EP's: Premieres Symphonies (Air), Bringing it All Back Home Again (The Brian Jonestown Massacre).
Notable Compilations: Live, 1966 at the Royal Albert Hall (Bob Dylan), Everything is Possible: The Best of Os Mutantes (Os Mutantes)

2000

01.  Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like a Peasant (Belle & Sebastian)
02.  The Virgin Suicides (Air)
03.  The Lioness (Songs: Ohia)
04.  Figure 8 (Elliott Smith)
05.  Kid A (Radiohead)
06.  Suburban Light (The Clientele)
07.  Since I Left You (The Avalanches)
08.  Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (Fatboy Slim)
09.  Selmasongs (Bjork)
10.  Buildings and Grounds (Papas Fritas)

Conspicuously Absent: Machina (Smashing Pumpkins), Silver & Gold (Neil Young), Vendi Vidi Vicious (The Hives), Felt Mountain (Goldfrapp), The Facts of Life (Black Box Recorder), NYC Ghosts and Flowers (Sonic Youth), Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (PJ Harvey), White Pepper (Ween) (not great, but "Bananas and Blow" is easily one of the three best songs that year).

Notable EP's: Legal Man (Belle & Sebastian)
Notable Compilations: Singles and Beyond (The Olivia Tremor Control)

2001

01.   Is This It (The Strokes)
02.   At Dawn (My Morning Jacket)
03.   Vespertine (Bjork)
04.   Amnesiac  (Radiohead)
05.   The Oliver Twist Manifesto (Or, What's Wrong With Popular Culture) (Luke Haines)
06.   Can Our Love (Tindersticks)
07.   The Red Thread (Arab Strap)
08.   No More Shall We Part (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
09.   Bravery, Repetition & Noise (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)
10.   Reveal (R.E.M.)

Conspicuously Absent: Regeneration (The Divine Comedy), 10,000 HZ Legend (Air), Tweekend (The Crystal Method), How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart (Gorky's Zygotic Mynci), Oh! Inverted World! (The Shins), Tenacious D (Tenacious D), Sleeping on Roads (Neil Halstead), Christie Malry's Own Double Entry (Luke Haines), We Love Life (Pulp), Things We Lost in the Fire (Low), When (Vincent Gallo), Trouble Every Day (Tindersticks), The National (The National), All This Sounds Gas (Preston School of Industry), Love and Theft  (Bob Dylan), Quiet is the New Loud (Kings of Convenience), m83 (m83).

Notable EP's: I'm Waking Up to Us (Belle & Sebastian), Sing…Jonathan David (Belle & Sebastian), 5 Songs (The Decemberists), Everything Is (Neutral Milk Hotel), Milkmaid Grand Army (Midlake), Untitled (The Walkmen), Goodbye to Edge City (Preston School of Industry)
Notable Compilations: Birth of the Dead (Grateful Dead), Les Baines Douches (18-Dec-1979) (Joy Division), Live at Jittery Joe's (Jeff Magnum).

2002

01.  Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Wilco)
02.  Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (The Flaming Lips)
03.  Sea Change (Beck)
04.  Turn on the Bright Lights (Interpol)
05.  Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me is Gone (The Walkmen)
06.  When I Was Cruel (Elvis Costello)
07.  White Blood Cells (The White Stripes)
08.  The Beginning Stages of the Polyphonic Spree (The Polyphonic Spree)
09.  Murray Street (Sonic Youth)
10.  Alice (Tom Waits)

Conspicuously Absent: De Stijl (The White Stripes), The White Stripes (The White Stripes) (these two are amazing albums, but really weren't made this year - therein lies the rub, you see), Lost in Space (Aimee Mann), The Headphone Masterpiece (Cody ChestnuTT), Blood Money (Tom Waits), Frantic (Brian Ferry), Whip It On (The Ravonettes), Walking with Thee (Clinic), Storytelling (Belle & Sebastian), The Night I Met My Second Wife (Sir), Recordings of Music for Film (Vincent Gallo), Castaways and Cutouts (The Decemberists), Peter, Bjorn and John (Peter, Bjorn and John), LIFTED or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground (Bright Eyes), Sha Sha (Ben Kweller), Highly Evolved (The Vines), Original Pirate Material (The Streets)

Notable EP's: Split (My Morning Jacket/Songs:Ohia), Chocolate & Ice (My Morning Jacket) (this would be #3 if it were an album; I have them burned back to back and that, to me, makes them a fucking album).

2003

01.  Hail to the Thief (Radiohead)
02.  Elephant (The White Stripes)
03.  Master and Everyone (Bonnie "Prince" Billy)
04.  It Still Moves (My Morning Jacket)
05.  Room on Fire (The Strokes)
06.  Greendale (Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
07.  And This is Our Music (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)
08.  Dear Catastrophe Waitress (Belle & Sebastian)
09.  Gallowsbird's Bark (The Fiery Furnaces)
10.  1972 (Josh Rouse)

Conspicuously Absent: World Without Tears (Lucinda Williams), Sleeping With Ghosts (Placebo), Black Cherry (Goldfrapp), Reality (David Bowie), Waiting for the Moon (Tindersticks), Passionoia (Black Box Recorder), Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (Outkast), Nocturama (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds), Monday at the Hug & Pint (Arab Strap), Her Majesty (The Decemberists), Ha Ha Sound (Broadcast), Neon Golden (The Notwist), Charm School(Bishop Allen), Sad Songs for Dirty Lovers (The National), The Rosebuds Make Out (Rosebuds), Greetings from Michigan: The Great Lakes State (Sufjan Stevens), Feast of Wire (Calexico), The Magnolia Electric Co. (Songs: Ohia), Mary Star of the Sea (Zwan), North (Elvis Costello), Quebec (Ween), Veneer (Jose Gonzalez), Segundo (Juana Molina), The Whitey on the Moon UK LP (Department of Eagles), Dead Cities, Lost Seas and Lost Ghosts (m83), Black Lips! (Black Lips)

Notable Compilations: Shut Up You Fucking Baby (David Cross), The Cunted Circus (Arab Strap)
Notable EP's: The Arcade Fire EP (The Arcade Fire), Chain Gang of Love (The Raveonettes)

2004

01. Monsoon (Preston School of Industry)
02. From a Basement on the Hill (Elliott Smith)
03. A Ghost is Born (Wilco)
04. Funeral (The Arcade Fire)
05. Antics (Interpol)
06. Bows + Arrows (The Walkmen)
07. Half Smiles of the Decomposed (Guided by Voices)
08. The Lyre of Orpheus/Abattoir Blues (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
09. Blueberry Boat (The Fiery Furnaces)
10. Real Gone  (Tom Waits)

Conspicuously Absent: To the Five Boroughs (The Beastie Boys), Absent Friends (The Divine Comedy), Around the Sun (R.E.M.), Franz Ferdinand (Franz Ferdinand), The Delivery Man (Elvis Costello), Medulla (Bjork), i (The Magnetic Fields), It's All Around You (Tortoise), Sonic Nurse (Sonic Youth), Couture, Couture, Couture (Frausdots), Together We're Heavy (The Polyphonic Spree), We Should Have Lived Like We Were Skyscrapers (Chin Up Chin Up), Nino Rojo (Devendra Banhart), Uh Huh Her (PJ Harvey), Vetiver (Vetiver), Bamnan and Slivercork (Midlake), Rejoicing in the Hands (Devendra Bahart), The Futureheads (The Futureheads), Riot on an Empty Street (Kings of Convenience),  (Wow! They really sound like The Who here...), Sung Tongs (Animal Collective), Our Endless Numbered Days (Iron & Wine), American Idiot (Green Day), Young Prayer (Panda Bear).The Grey Album (DJ Danger Mouse), We Did Not Know the Forest Spirit Made the Flowers Grow (Black Lips), Quiet City (Pan American), Mockingbird (Papercuts) (Fuzzes you out at traffic lights. Whoa.)
 
 

Notable EP's: "Books" (Belle & Sebastian), I'm a Cuckoo (Belle & Sebastian)
Notable Compilations: It's Not Funny (David Cross)

2005

01. The Forgotten Arm (Aimee Mann)
02. Alligator (The National)
03. Another Day on Earth (Brian Eno)
04. Lookaftering (Vashti Bunyan)
05. Z (My Morning Jacket)
06. Birds Make Good Neighbors (Rosebuds)
07. Picaresque (The Decemberists)
08. Guero (Beck)
09. Rehearsing My Choir (The Fiery Furnaces)
10. The Woods (Sleater-Kinney)

Conspicuously Absent: Nashville (Josh Rouse) - never bothered to listen to all of it; Whaat I heard was so vastly inferior to anything on 1972 (I was almost worried that this album would spoil that one for me), The Beekeeper (Tori Amos) - Offical "Jump the Shark" album; She came close on the last one, The Great Destroyer (Low) - for all the mystique and excitement surrounding producer Dave Fridman, I think it just might be possible he's riding a prior accomplishment that would be assigned to Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips (Note: Major contradiction in putting The Woods - also produced by Fridman - on the top ten); Low, in their third and least interesting season, seem to have deigned it necessary to water themselves down yet again. Alpine Static (Kinski) - I don't get it. No, seriously: Somebody neeeds to fucking explain it., Some Cities (The Doves) - Got better with each listen - sonically, it's one of the most interesting sets of cuts of the year; As an album, though, it's still kind of a muddle, Here Come the Tears (The Tears) - you see, the problem here is that Suede has become - and I believe this is a feat of emptiness - even more sappily melodramatic than in their most addictive glam anthems, Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs (Andrew Bird), In the Clear (Ivy), La Fôret (Xiu Xiu) - completely uneven, but has highlights that belong on the year's best mix tape, The Sights (The Sights) - ditto to the last one - especially in it's pop-gun first tracks and boldly corny assertions among the garagey Detroit riffs, In Case We Die (Architecture in Helsinki) - ultimately a bit unsatisfying, despite Pollyphonic Spree-tendencies with the full-on super harmonies it belts out and the strange directions it takes. Silent Alarm (Bloc Party), Here's Your Ghost (Falconhawk), Strange Geometry (The Clientele), Amber Headlights (Greg Dulli), Engineers (Engineers), Less Sophistocation (The Jessica Fletchers), Get Behind Me Satan (The White Stripes), Witching Hour (Ladytron), EP (The Fiery Furnaces), Praire Wind (Neil Young), Press the Button (The Chemical Brothers), Extraordinary Machine (Fiona Apple), L' Enfant Assasin des Mouches (Jean-Claude Vannier), War of the Wakening Phantoms (The High Dials), Cripple Crow (Devendra Banhart), The Back Room (Editors), Falling Out (Peter, Bjorn and John), Superwolf (Matt Sweeney and Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Pretty in Black (The Raveonettes), LCD Soundsystem (LCD Soundsystem), The Secret Migration (Mercury Rev), Before the Dawn Heals Us (m83), Let it Bloom (Black Lips) [Holy shit, this record rocks.]

Notable Compilations: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack: Bootleg Series, Volume 7 (Bob Dylan) - goes way far back on the first disc (to a high school recording and a great deal of Woody Guthrie worship) and uses the second disc to house those great variations from the three most important Dylan sessions, Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited and Bringing it All Back Home; Kicking Television (Wilco).

Notable EP's: We are the Radio (The Brian Jonestown Massacre), Prospect Hummer (Animal Collective with Vashti Bunyan), Unwind (Rosebuds), Cuttings (Editors)

2006

01. At War With the Mystics (The Flaming Lips)
02. The Eraser (Thom Yorke)
03. The Trials of Van Occupanther (Midlake)
04. The Crane Wife (The Decemberists)
05. Writer's Block (Peter, Bjorn and John)

Victoria and I had a running gag that I had to hear "Amsterdam" at least four times a day, but the amount of exposure received by "Young Folks" - the catchiest song of the year - really helped draw me in. Every cut seems so necessary, and the album is exciting for its culimination and place within their canon: It blends the styles of the previous two albums, each of which mired in saminess.

06. Sound of Silver (LCD Soundsystem)
07. Bitter Tea (The Fiery Furnaces)
08. The Life Pursuit (Belle & Sebastian)
09. First Impressions of Earth (The Strokes)
10. Off My Rocker at the Art School Bop (Luke Haines)

11. Beach House (Beach House)
12. St. Elsewhere (Gnarls Barkley)
13. Winter Women/Holy Ghost Language School (Matthew Friedberger)
14. The Drift (Scott Walker)
15. The Last Romance (Arab Strap)
16. Rather Ripped (Sonic Youth)
17. The Information (Beck)
18. I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass (Yo La Tengo)
19. 5:55 (Charlotte Gainsbourg)
20. Burial (Burial)
 

Conspicuously Absent: Living with War (Neil Young), Whatever People Say I Am That's What I'm Not (Arctic Monkeys) (Wow! Singles and filler! Most overrated thing in at least a year!), Victory for the Comic Muse (The Divine Comedy) (Everything sounds the same, but at least its less lame than Absent Friends), Ringleader of the Tormentors (Morrissey) (When did Morrissey get so political? This album's undertones give Living With War a run for its money - although that album is far more succint and relevant in my opinon), Under Iron Island (Keane) (This is the worst album I've heard in years; I described it as Savage Garden goes Electronica!), Leaving Songs (Stuart Staples) (I don't like duets as a rule, really. The other songs aren't bad, but they aren't exactly Tindersticks, either), (This is one of the most terrifying things I've ever heard.), Personality: One Was a Spider. One Was a Bird. (The Sleepy Jackson), , , A Hundred Miles Off (The Walkmen), Modern Times (Bob Dylan), We're All in This Alone (The Mendoza Line),The Lemonheads (The Lemonheads), Fading Trails (The Magnolia Electric Co.), Avatar (Comets on Fire), Dreamt For Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (Sparklehorse), Samme Stof Som Stof (Under Byen), One More Drifter in the Snow (Aimee Mann), Future Crayon (Broadcast), Yellow House (Grizzly Bear), Post-War (M. Ward), Amid the Noise (So Percussion), Songs for Creeps (The Places), The Lost Take (Dosh), Return to Cookie Mountain (TV On the Radio), , Let's Get Out of This Country (Camera Obscura), ), Broken Boy Soldiers (The Raconteurs), Clouds of People (The Sky Drops), The Letting Go (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Born Again in the USA (Loose Fur), Ships (Danielson) [overfuckingrated in my opinion], Hidden World (Fucked Up), Rykestraße 68 (Hanne Hukkelberg)

Notable EP's: A Lesson in Crime (Tokyo Police Club), Wait (The Polyphonic Spree), Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives (Voxtrot)

Notable Compilations: Luke Haines is Dead (Luke Haines) (13 out of 25 of the most played songs on my iPod come from this very album at the time of this writing), The Proposition (Nick Cave and Warren Ellis), Okonokos (My Morning Jacket), Welcome to My World (Daniel Johnston)

[Though Wikipedia is apt to credit Matthew Friedberger with “a majority of the instrumentation, [the writing of] most of the songs and lyrics [for The Fiery Furnaces],” they are not as quick to cite focus, the only thing lacking in both Winter Women and Holy Ghost Language. Most of her surface (read: vocal) lack is evoked through Matthew’s multi-tracking, but his sister Eleanor (the other half of the FF duo) gets the credit for knowing how to stay on point. Whether you take Matt’s albums apart, play them together or switch them up, both are far too engaged unto themselves to be engaging in any coherent sense of narrative. If you found FF to be all over the place, but love the folk-story thread, I would respectfully suggest backing up and zipping off in the opposite direction. These are pop snapshots typically encased in the duo-produced epic tales (a quick look to my iTunes stats gives me just over five minutes’ average per song for The Furnaces), a welcome shortness of breath that leads to a hyper-catchy slipshod of video game poppers (clearly Nintendo-inspired tinkling that gives way to piano ramblings) on Holy Ghost Language and the less consistent, kitchen sink (and everything but) on Winter Women, which Harmonica, harpsichord, 80s hair guitar solos, flute – all in the same song (the clear highlight, Up the River).  Matthew Friedberger has a wonderful Flaming Lips’-style audacity, wherein he finds a sound and repeats it like a child who can’t help himself. It couldn’t be in more fascinating contrast to the actual text of these tracks, though. Believing the flailing, storied lyricism in this collection is carved of xenolalia - the spontaneous speaking of foreign tonguees - he playfully spins what feel like slivers of fully-conceived, ill-linked tales like that of Big Bill Crib and his Ladies of the Desert (in song of same name). That terrific quality of long labor for short gain is equally present and far more effective in the records’ most warming element, namely, its’ experimental generosity. I’ve always pictured the melody being tested on a billion different instruments in a billion combinations until just the right fit comes about. These are more than fourscore right fits that sound like condensed visions looking to happy horizon of pop phantasms. You could listen all day and still have no idea what the hell you just heard.].

2007

01. Neon Bible (The Arcade Fire)
02. Person Pitch (Panda Bear)
03. In Our Nature (Jose Gonzalez)
04. Icky Thump (The White Stripes)
05. In Rainbows (Radiohead)
06. Yours to Keep (Albert Hammond, Jr.)
07. Strawberry Jam (Animal Collective)
08. An End Has a Start (Editors)
09. War Elephant (Deer Tick)
10. Jarvis (Jarvis Cocker)

11. Untrue (Burial)
12. Sky Blue Sky (Wilco)
13. From Here We Go Sublime (The Field)
14. White Chalk (PJ Harvey)
15. A Weekend in the City (Bloc Party)
16. Digital Shades, Vol. 1 (m83)
17. Our Love to Admire (Interpol)
18. Favourite Worst Nightmare (Arctic Monkeys)
19. The Shepherd's Dog (Iron & Wine)
20. Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon (Devendra Banhart)

I did write a few things here about music in 2007.

Conspicuously Absent: (Samier than Alligator - their masterwork - but still full of passiionate balladry and haunting reflections on the rich white urban experience.), My Heart Has a Wish That You Would Not Go (Aereogramme), Wincing the Night Away (The Shins) (There's "Phantom Limbs" and then just a whipping-blur of a record), Volta (Bjork) ("Declare Independence" shrieks and pounds and I fucking love it), ("Sunday" has a beauty to it and the rest of the album took so many listens; It's not "Silent Alarm" but, then, why should it be?), Grinderman (Grinderman) ("Honey Bee" should be a hit single. This world makes no sense), Night of the Furies (Rosebuds), The Mix-Up (The Beastie Boys) (I almost strained my jaw yawning at this thing.), The Fragile Army (The Polyphonic Spree) (Sometimes its just better to admit that it ain't workin' anymore), Pocket Symphony (Air) (Contains a Jarvis Cocker song better than anything on his solo record - which is really saying something), Beyond (Dinosaur Jr.) (Duplicates the sound without really peaking interest), The Broken String (Bishop Allen) (Poppy and less memorable, but quite a shaft better written, I must say), Hands Across the Void (Tiny Vipers) (holy shit, by the way, is the long fadeout of "Forest Fire" ever simultaneously evocative and mesmerizing fuzz), God Save the Clientele (The Clientele) (gents, it's getting fucking old.), Proof of Youth (The Go! Team), , Mirrored (Battles), , La Cucaracha (Ween), , Fur and Gold (Bat for Lashes), , , Trees Outside the Academy (Thurston Moore), (VW commercial whores, in my opinion; they're damn lucky the album doesn't suck), Cease to Begin (Band of Horses) (a bit too power ballad for me; I get why people dig them, but they do with proficience what a ton of better bands do with greatness: Whine artfully), Chrome Dreams II (Neil Young) (This is actually kind of a sweet treat: Methinks Neil should make career-spanning mix CDs instead of releasing, say, Praire Wind. "Ordinary People" sounds like the best outtake from Freedom, even though it's actually from This Note's For You, released over a year before Freedom.), Hideout (Film School), , Loney, Noir (Loney, Dear), And Their Refinement of the Decline (Stars of the Lid), Let's Stay Friends (Les Savy Fav), 45:33 (LCD Soundsystem), Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? (Of Montreal), Once Upon a Time in the West (Hard-Fi), Spiderman of the Rings (Dan Deacon) (Like its title, it is only sorta clever.), Trading Twilight for Daylight (Great Northern), Can't Go Back (Papercuts).

Notable EP's: Smith (Tokyo Police Club), Chubby Dancer (Action Painters), Fluorescent Grey (Deerhunter)

Notable Compilations: New Moon (Elliott Smith), Werewolves & Lollipops (Patton Oswalt), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Nick Cave & Warren Ellis), Hvarf-Heim (Sigur Rós) (More of that lovely, as Randy put it, "opium for the ears"), Scottish Fiction (The Best Of 1997-2007) (Idlewild)

2008

01. Vampire Weekend (Vampire Weekend)
02. Microcastle (Deerhunter)
03. Fleet Foxes (Fleet Foxes)
04. Evil Urges (My Morning Jacket)
05. Elephant Shell (Tokyo Police Club)
06. In Ear Park (Department of Eagles)
07. saturdays = youth (m83)
08. Third (Portishead)
09. Modern Guilt (Beck)
10. Glasvegas (Glasvegas)

11. Como te Llama (Albert Hammond, Jr.)
12  The Odd Couple (Gnarls Barkley)
13. Attack and Release (The Black Keys)
14. Vivian Girls (Vivian Girls)
15. Lie Down in the Light (Bonnie "Prince" Billy)
16. The Hungry Saw (Tindersticks)
17. Dig, Lazarus, Dig! (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
18. My Bloody Underground (The Brian Jonestown Massacre)
19. Devotion (Beach House)
19. Temper (Benoit Poulard)
20. Intimacy (Bloc Party)

Conspicuously Absent: Go Away White (Bauhaus), Seventh Tree (Goldfrapp), Accelerate (R.E.M.), Let the Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel (Atlas Sound), Consolers of the Lonely (The Raconteurs), Rip It Off (Times New Viking),  Distortion (The Magnetic Fields), The Midnight Organ Fight (Frightened Rabbit), Lust Lust Lust (The Raveonettes), The Colorful Life (Cajun Dance Party), Nouns (No Age), The Devil, You + Me (The Notwist), Silent Movie (Quiet Village), Rook (Shearwater), Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust (Sigur Ros), You & Me (The Walkmen), Momofuku (Elvis Costello & The Imposters), High Places (High Places), Dear Science (TV on the Radio), Everything is Borrowed (The Streets), Moody Motorcycle (Human Highway), For Emma, Forever Ago (Bon Iver), Seaside Rock (Peter Bjorn and John), , Out My Window (Koushik), We Ate the Machine (Polysics), Snowflake Midnight (Mercury Rev), Los Angeles (Flying Lotus), This Is It And I Am It And You Are It And So Is That And He Is It And She Is It And It Is It And That Is That (Marnie Stern), Un Dia (Juana Molina), Life Like (Rosebuds), Ode to Sunshine (Delta Spirit), The Renaissance (Q-Tip), Skeletal Lamping (Of Montreal), Furr (Blitzen Trapper) (Nah, not so great.), Music Tapes for Clouds and Tornadoes (The Music Tapes), Reality Check (The Teenagers) (Greatest. Single. Ever. Album: Mediocre), Santogold (Santogold) (This record is sweet. Fuck Bud Light Lime.), The Airing of Grievances (Titus Andronicus)

Notable EP's: Sound of Light (The Field) (Already my favorite EP ever. Until next week, I'm sure.), Sun Giant (Fleet Foxes), Water Curses (Animal Collective), Just Like Kicking Jesus (Brian Jonestown Massacre), The Lakes of Alberta (Graham Wright), EP (Crystal Antlers)

Notable Compilations: What Does it All Mean? 1983-2006 Retrospective Disc (Steinski), The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 : Tell Tale Signs (Bob Dylan), The BBC Sessions (Belle & Sebastian)

2009

01. Merriweather Post Pavillion (Animal Collective) (this actually might be the best album not called pet sounds ever recorded by human beings)
02. jj no. 2 (jj)
03. Wavves (Wavves)
04. Farm (Dinosaur Jr.)
05. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (The Pains of Being Pure at Heart)
06. Post-Nothing (Japandroids)
07. Songs of Shame (The Woods)
08. Fuckbook (Condo Fucks)
09. Why There Are Mountains (Cymbals Eat Guitars)
10. Horehound (The Dead Weather)
 

Bumped: Beware (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), Two Suns (Bat For Lashes), Slow Dance (Jeremy Jay), Further Complications (Jarvis Cocker), Veckatimest (Grizzly Bear), My Maudlin Career (Camera Obscura) (Oh dear, I just don't fucking care.),  Together Through Life (Bob Dylan), Grrr... (Bishop Allen), Wavering Radiant (Isis), The Crying Light (Antony & the Johnsons), Grand (Matt & Kim) (I've made no headway past the single, I'm afraid), You Can Have What You Want (Papercuts), Hush (Asobi Seksu), Yesterday & Today (The Field), Living Thing (Peter, Bjorn and John), Wilco (The Album) (Wilco), I'm Going Away (The Fiery Furnaces), Ambivalence Avenue (Bibio), Bromst (Dan Deacon), Born on Flag Day (Deer Tick) (First two tracks are as good as anything on the previous record; the rest of the tracks are a distracted inspiration to be sure), Fever Ray (Fever Ray), Dragonslayer (Sunset Rubdown) (I couldn't imagine listening to it more than once), Logos (Atlas Sound) (Please accept my aplogies for loving your music and also for not waiting until it came out, Bradford Cox), Catacombs (Cass McCombs), Moondagger (Deastro), Hometowns (The Rural Alberta Advantage), Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Phoenix), These Four Walls (We Were Promised Jetpacks), Arecibo Message (Boxcutter), Riceboy Sleeps (Riceboy Sleeps), God Help the Girl (Belle & Sebastian or, more specifically, Rupert Murdoch and assorted musicians), Mystery Lights (YACHT), Hospice (The Antlers), Gather, Form and Fly (Megafaun), LP (Discovery)

Notable Compilations: Animal Crack Box (Animal Collective), Celebracion De La Ciudad Natal (My Morning Jacket), Jay Stay Paid (J Dilla), Confiote de Bits (Pepe Bradock).

Notable EPs: Ayerton Senna (Delorean)